Against All Odds
by KeepFlying
Summary: Takes place before ANGEL. When Fang raids Itex he discovers 16 year old, avain/human Abby, he sees how differnt she is from the flock, despite her simmilar wings. Her story is slowly revealed as they search for other mutants, and the old Flock.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This has been sitting on my flash drive for ages so I decided to edit and post it. I'm assuming that if you are reading Maximum Ride Fan Fiction that you have at least read The Angel Experiment, but to completely grasp the plot of this particular story you have to have read at least the first two books. I hope you enjoy! Also keep in mind that Fang does not have his own "flock" so to speak in this; but he does in ANGEL. Since I started this story before it was released, that was not taken into regard. As of this chapter, as well as the first few chapters, he is on his own and not with any members of the original Flock. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, James Patterson does. The plot however, as well as the characters Abby Goldwick and Rex, are of my own imagination. No spinoffs of this Fic, please.

Chapter One

I wake up on the cold metal floor of my dog crate. The place I go when I'm not forced to endure the horrible experiments. The painful injections, the brutal extensive exercise, the electrical shocks, the third degree burns… this is just the beginning of the ruthless testing I'm forced to go through. The white coats are the ones who do this. They call themselves "scientists" but all they really do is kill innocent people and animals. All they really do is kidnap children from loving parents and good homes, force them into cages, and turn them into freaks. At least that's what happened to me.

Let me slow down a bit in case you're lost. My name is Abby Goldwick. I was twelve years old when I was captured. I was just the same as any other girl in middle school, I had a good group of friends, a crush on the quarterback of the football team, I was an only child to a younger married couple we lived in a small house in New Mexico. I had a chocolate lab named Hershey and went to soccer practice twice a week. I wasn't particularly smart, pretty, or athletic, but I was comfortable with my life. I was average in almost everything I did. But then that all changed.

I still remember the night my parents told me about my "disease," when they told me I would be in the hospital for a while getting treatment. That's when they caught me. The "doctor" who had diagnosed me had a team waiting for me. They kidnapped me that night. I don't know what my parents think happened to me, but I'm sure by now everyone assumes I'm dead. I only wish that were the case.

I woke up in a dog crate, sweaty and exhausted. I was frozen. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. My mind was swimming in endless circles of unanswered questions. The stinging, burning sensation of pain was engulfing my entire body. My shoulder blades felt like they'd been pricked with a million needles. Where was I? Why was I here? Why did they take me? All I wanted was to get out. To run. To get as far away from this horrible place as fast as I possibly could.

I tried to sit up in the confined space of the cage. I had to keep my head ducked down in order to do this, but I was able to despite how my head was spinning from the movement. That's when I noticed the wings. Huge bird wings tightly folded against my back. That's when I knew I was having a nightmare.

Except I wasn't.

I was dressed in a flimsy white nightgown like the ones they give to people who have to stay overnight in hospitals. The jeans and T-shirt I had worn to the doctor were nowhere in sight. I reached out to feel a few of my feathers. As I reached back to feel the new folded up limbs growing out of my back, they felt as soft and light as real bird feathers. Impossible. They were a few shades darker than my dirty blonde hair and were folded tightly against my back. I was afraid trying to move them would bring on a whole new wave of pain, so I kept still.

I looked around the room that surrounded my crate. It was longer than it was wide, almost like a hallway. The walls were the same stark white as the floor and ceiling. Dog crates like mine lined the longer walls and double doors were on each of the shorter walls. The room had the strong sterile smell of Lysol, it burned my nose. Inside the row of cages across from me were some of the most horrible creatures I'd ever seen. All of them were part human, or at least I think they were. Some were partially covered in slimy green scales, others had stripes like zebras. A few even had huge eyes as big as baseballs. There were other human hybrids as well but they were far too dreadful for me to even mention. Most disturbingly of all was that all the creatures looked like they had been children before they were turned into hideous beasts. I hoped I wasn't as dramatically changed as they were.

I looked down at the metal floor of my dog kennel, my face slightly distorted and blurry in the reflective aluminum. Thankfully, I saw the same familiar silver-green eyes staring back, the same sandy hair falling all the way to the center of my back. The same golden brown freckles sprinkled over the bridge of my nose. Same old Abby. But somehow I looked different; I was thinner, much thinner. I wasn't particularly chubby before but now I was practically skin and bones. I felt more alert; I had sharper eyesight and much better hearing. My skin was drained of all color, except my freckles that stayed on my nose even in the dead of winter. My stomach growled loudly, I could probably eat a horse. How long had I been passed out? When had I last eaten? The stiffness in my muscles suggests it had been much more than a single day.

"Hey there," I heard someone say in a hushed whisper-interrupting my thoughts. I saw a boy in the cage next to mine looking at me; it must have been he who had spoken. "Hi," I murmured. "What's your name?"

"Feline/human experiment 097."

"Oh...well I'm Abby. Do you know where we are?"

"I heard white coats talking about this place. They called it Itex. Don't let them know you know or they'll punish you."

As if on cue, a man in a white lab coat came up to me and scanned a card on a metal plate above my cage. A green light flashed above me and the door became loose but he didn't open it further, neither did I. He looked at me, looked at my wings, and then he checked something on his chart. "Avian/Human experiment 37, you're needed in lab 18. Follow me." 

A/N: This is my first Fan Fiction uploaded so I hope you liked it! Please let me know you're reading! I would absolutely LOVE reviews and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Expect updates every couple of weeks, maybe sooner. I also realize that Fang was not in this chapter, but I guarantee he is in the next one, which I will go ahead and post now.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here's chapter two. And, as promised, Fang makes his appearance.**

CHAPTER 2

_One year later_

"Abby!" Rex whispered, frantically reaching as far as he could through the gaps between the metal bars of his cage, trying to reach toward me. I was curled in the fetal position in the cramped space I had been given. The same space I was shoved into about a year earlier when I had first arrived here, when I had first met Rex. I hadn't called him Rex when we met, though. But I couldn't call him by the experiment number the white coats had given him, it just didn't feel right. But amazingly neither one of us had died yet, as so many other of the other genetic failures bred here had. And so after a few days with my cage next to Rex's, I told him to make up his own name, since he never knew his parents and they hadn't given him one. If he even had parents...

He knew his human DNA had been infused with feline DNA, he just didn't know what kind of feline. He had huge dark eyes like a jungle cat's, wavy dark brown hair, and no fingernails but instead, retractable three-inch claws imbedded in his otherwise fleshy fingertips. Eventually we became close. He was my only friend in this otherwise miserable place. Between the constant experimentations we were forced to endure, we still saw each other often through the holes of our cages. And when one of us wasn't passed out from spinning pain or was simply too traumatized from the torture that went on in this place, we would whisper as silently as we could, so that no unwanted ears would overhear.

I opened my eyes groggily, glaring a Rex. "I was trying to sleep, what is it?" I slurred. "Do you hear that? The sirens?" It was almost impossible to miss the regular, blaring alarm. It's amazing it didn't wake me up. Just because my ears-while far better than a normal human's- are not as good at picking up sounds as Rex's are, it doesn't mean I'm deaf. He seems to forget that sometimes. "Yeah so? There are weird noises around here all the time, Rex."

"Yeah, but never sirens. I can feel someone running...Abby, what if someone's escaping? Or-" another weird thing about Rex, he can sense the position of people around him. He can tell their exact position if anyone's within a mile. But someone escaping? It's beyond ridiculous.  
>"No one could ever escape from here. It's a prison. Look around, we're in cages," I snapped, still tired.<p>

Suddenly one of the doors at the far end of the room slammed open. An olive skinned boy with dark hair ran inside, he was dressed in all black, and I could swear I saw wings folded in on his back. He ran down my row of cages scanning a card over the tops of them and unlocking them. "Get out! Get out!" he roared, passing the card over my cage. I didn't hesitate. He looped back around the room, unlocking the other cages. "Follow me! We're getting out of here!" he didn't look back, he just ran back out the door, expecting us to follow.

Some of the experiments were so sickly and on the verge of death they couldn't even get out of their cages. Others, like me, ran after him, holding onto the sight of him for dear life, knowing every tread further towards him was a step closer to freedom.

The strange boy led us through the familiar hallways and rooms of Itex Head Quarters, all the white coats and erasers had been beaten unconscious, this boy had either had lots of help or was an experienced kick-ass fighter. And judging from the fact that he was covered in old battle scars and had new cuts and bruises on his face and arms as well, I'm betting he pulled this off by himself. We finally got outside; this was the first time I had been outside in more than a year. I opened my wings and threw my head back, trying to absorb as much of the warm sunlight and sweet fresh air as I could, but we were still on the run.

There was a huge bus waiting for us in the parking lot of the above ground back entrance of Itex. I've heard rumors about this place, and how the only other way in and out of Itex was through sewers. I'm glad the dark haired boy had chosen this exit.

There were dozens of us, and we all crammed into the bus. The boy got into the driver's seat and sped away. I was in the seat behind him and I struggled to make myself heard over the chaos of the other mutants. "Where are we going?" I screeched at him. "Away from there. Someplace they won't find us." he said. That seemed to be the only answer I would get. I sat back down, staring out at the city, and I caught a glimpse of what could only be the Empire State Building.

We were in NYC. This was insane. Evil scientists were creating human crossbreed mutations in the middle of New York and no one had any idea? How did they pull that off? I turned to Rex, who was sitting next to me. "We're in New York City, one of the biggest cities in the country." I had to explain this because someone who'd been trapped in a cage his whole life wouldn't know a thing about New York. "That's cool, so where do you think we're going?"

"Who cares? As long as we're out of there." I answered

"How do you know where we are?" the winged boy asked from in front of me. "Who wouldn't recognize New York?" I gawked, dubious.  
>"Someone who's been raised in a science lab and has been sleeping in a dog crate their whole lives."<br>"I got captured by those creeps when I was twelve, I had a normal life before that." He looked surprised for a second but quickly composed himself. He turned around for a moment, eyeing my wings. "Can you fly?" He asked skeptically. "I've never gotten a chance to try." he nodded and looked back at the road.

We kept speeding until he turned off into a narrow alley between the backsides of buildings covered in gang signs. He finally parked the bus behind some dumpsters. "Alright listen up!" he yelled over us, standing up and facing the back of the bus so he could see everyone. "From here, we walk. Keep quiet and follow me." He opened the doors and jumped out, Rex and I were right behind him. He started walking down the center of the alley, shaking out his huge black wings as he went. I shook mine out too since they were sore from leaning back on the bus seats, and folded them back up loosely on my back. I was still in the clothes from Itex and didn't have any shoes. My feet were cold. But I didn't complain. At least I was finally away from there.

We kept walking in silence for about twenty minutes until we came to a deserted old building that was falling apart at the seams. He led us inside, even the interior walls were covered in graffiti and some of them were torn down or full of huge holes, leaving the bare concrete floor covered in plaster, drywall, and sawdust. The sun was going down and it was mostly dark inside the building, but my avian eyesight allowed me to see in perfect detail, even in total darkness. The dark haired boy flipped on a light switch and florescent lights illuminated the place, making it look even more hideous.

"What makes you think this place is safe?" I asked him. "I met some guys last time I was here raiding Itex, they let me use this place as a safe house for me and." His eyes darkened, and for a moment his face cast a shadow of loneliness he kept trying to hide, like he was here last time with someone he missed terribly. "For me and some old friends." He finished. "So where are these guys now?" I wondered, referring to whoever showed him this place, not his old friends. But he just shrugged.

"Okay everyone, we can't stay here for long, we need to get out of New York as soon as possible, before they can track us down. If you're smart and think you can make it on your own out there, leave now. Just be warned, they will find you. They will send erasers out looking for you, or whatever new form of eraser there is now. At least usually they do." I stopped and looked to see everyone's reaction to this. Only then did I notice how few of us there were. Many of us never even left Itex; others had run away from the dark haired boy as soon as they got outside, fleeing Itex and the rest of the mutants, trying to make it on their own. After everyone left the bus and started walking here, some had slipped off and away from everyone else either by themselves or in small groups. Rex was still with me. But he'd kept silent most of the way here. He must be scared, and who could blame him? It was his first time out of that building since...ever.

"The erasers will probably track you down if you're worth finding, if they think you'll die on your own, they won't bother looking." the boy droned, I wondered how he knew all this. "If you plan on staying with me there is something you should all know. If you have any intention of leaving, do it now." No one moved. "Alright then. My name is Fang; I've been searching the country for other places like Itex, and making attempts at freeing more mutants. I'm trying to build an army of us to go up against the white coats. What they're doing is wrong, and it's up to us to put a stop to it." Everyone stopped murmuring; you could hear a pin drop in this battered old building now.

**A/N: Okay so there you have it! Please leave me reviews! Constructive criticism makes me happy!**


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